Requests meeting with Jagdeo on range of issues
The Guyana Press Association, (GPA), on Sunday announced that it had suspended the boycott of the coverage of President Bharrat Jagdeo, government ministers and Cabinet Secretary, Dr Roger Luncheon.
The association had made a decision to boycott the President and his ministers following the ban of journalist Gordon Moseley from the Office of the President (OP) and State House.
According to a release from the GPA, letters had been dispatched to President Jagdeo and other senior functionaries of OP, requesting a meeting to discuss not only the ban on Moseley but also a range of media matters.
“We believe that the time has come to allow both local and international interventions to work, aimed at bringing about a resolution to a number of issues concerning the media. The collective will of all Guyana and Guyanese at all levels is required to not only operate in an environment of mutual respect but also the creation of mutually agreed opportunities for capacity-building in the media,” a release from the GPA said.
The association said it joined with media workers and media houses in recognizing the “profound impact that our boycott of several events has had.” It said that it was a wake-up call to the authorities “that we shall not be treated with disrespect.”
The GPA called on its members to remain vigilant as they seek to have discourse. It stated that its actions have called attention to the repeated “infractions against the media to regional and international organisations like the Association of Caribbean Media Workers (ACM), Reporters Without Borders and the United Nations.”
Further, the association said that the latest incident involving Moseley was communicated to the Special Rapporteurs on Freedom of Expression for both the Inter-American Human Rights Commission (IACHR) and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
And the association said its members will “not flinch one inch in bringing to bear our collective will in resolving these issues. It is important that media workers document acts of harassment and intimidation by anyone — be it government or opposition politicians, the private sector, non-governmental organisations, etc — to the GPA so that we can address those concerns.”
Moseley learnt of the ban two weeks ago when he turned up for an assignment at OP and was told by a security guard that he would be prevented from entering OP and State House.
He later received a letter signed by Head of the Government Information Agency (GINA) Neaz Subhan stating that the administration of GINA had withdrawn his accreditation to OP and State House with immediate effect. The letter said that though other employees of Capitol News would not be similarly prohibited, GINA would be “inclined to review the decision providing that you issue an apology in relation to the disparaging and disrespectful remarks couched in your letter to the press.”
Moseley has since refused to apologise saying that he would not allow anyone to “waste his time.” He has also questioned what accreditation GINA was withdrawing since no accreditation had ever been given to him or any media worker for OP and State House. The only accreditation GINA has issued to the media is a press pass that gives journalists permission to go past police cordons.
